A blog set up to criticize Goldman Sachs has earned the ire of Goldman lawyers, but legal action may not be possible, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune. The site, GoldmanSachs666.com, serves as a gateway to dozens of links that serve to demonstrate how huge of an influence the investment banking powerhouse has on politics and finance in the post-bailout era.
The blog is the creation of investment advisor and real estate broker Mike Morgan, who says he started the blog “after watching the pure nonsense on TV where Congress and the public were outraged about $185 million in AIG bonuses, while companies like Goldman Sachs walked quietly out the back door with $180 billion.”
Morgan’s first registered the site in March, but activity started picking up in April, with 61 posts since April 1. Since April 11, the site has drawn nearly 300,000 visitors, according to the web counter, and been cross-referenced through thousands of other online sites.
Goldman’s attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to Morgan on April 8 that claimed his use of Goldman’s name violated intellectual property rights. Since receiving the letter, Morgan has posted a disclaimer on his site disavowing the blog from any connection with the bank.
Morgan also filed a six-page complaint against Goldman last week, alleging that the bank’s lawyers are trying to put a lid on his site.
Goldman Sachs posted first-quarter earnings of $1.8 billion on April 14, though the Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin noted that the impressive figure was due in part to a change of the bank’s earnings calendar, which effectively erased the $1.5 billion loss suffered in December.